Specialists at VGH gave Sheila her life back
Sheila was snowmobiling with family and friends near Williams Lake in 2022 when she sustained catastrophic injuries. The team at VGH saved her life. Photo courtesy VGH
Sheila was snowmobiling with her family and friends near Williams Lake in January 2022. They had just started to head back to their trucks when Sheila fell into a trench that had been hidden by snowfall. Before she could climb back out, another rider fell into the trench and his snowmobile smashed down onto her.
“Apparently, when they got to me, my head was lying on my chest at an impossible angle. My jaw was torn and dislocated, and I wasn’t breathing. My cousin thought I was dead,” says Sheila.
She suffered multiple injuries, including a ruptured liver and spleen, a fractured rib, a torn rotator cuff and bicep, and a deep gash along her right jaw. Worst of all, the nerves, tendons and nearly all the ligaments connecting her skull to her vertebral column were severed – an injury that is almost always fatal.
After twice being airlifted to different regional hospitals, Sheila was then airlifted to Vancouver General Hospital (VGH), where she was placed under the care of 1 Being the only hospital in B.C. able to perform complex spinal surgery, VGH is the provincial referral centre for all acute spinal injuries.
Renowned spinal surgeon Dr. Charles Fisher and his specialist team at Vancouver General Hospital carefully performed surgery that would repair Shiela’s traumatic, life-threatening injury. Photo courtesy VGH
Over several hours, Dr. Fisher and his specialist team carefully performed the surgery that would repair this traumatic, life-threatening injury. “To treat these injuries, it’s not just the surgeon. You need to have a great team – and that’s what VGH provides,” says Dr. Fisher.
That team includes donors, who help make this incredible level of care possible for British Columbians – when they need it most urgently.
For Sheila, it has been a long, slow road to recovery since that horrible day in 2022. “That became my goal,” she says. “I wanted to get back out in the mountains and ride again…And in March, just over a year since the accident, I made my first solo ride!”
“My cousin thought he’d lost me that day. But Dr Fisher saved my life.”
Honour your angel
VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation asks our community to ‘Honour Your Angel’ by making a donation in honour of a loved one or health care provider. These gifts help to transform health care and save lives like Sheila’s.
To honour your angel, visit vghfoundation.ca/angel-wlt